State of West Virginia v. Ronald Goins, 231 W. Va. 617

Goins was convicted in Mercer County Circuit Court of five counts of misdemeanor brandishing, with five consecutive one-year sentences later suspended and placed on probation, later modified after a probation violation.
On appeal, Goins argues the five brandishing sentences violate double jeopardy and that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the convictions.
The State contends multiple brandishing convictions are proper if separate breaches of the peace occurred, potentially for each shot fired.
The jury found Goins guilty of five counts of brandishing based on the presence of multiple victims/adults in the Tillers’ vehicle and Goins’ firing.
The court ultimately held that the unit of prosecution for the brandishing statute is a breach of the peace, and multiple counts based on separate shots are not automatically permitted; the court reversed four counts but affirmed one count and remanded for resentencing.
Concurrence notes disagreement on whether multiple shots can support multiple brandishing convictions while agreeing on the unit of prosecution.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Double jeopardy for multiple brandishing convictions	Goins argues five counts for one incident violate double jeopardy	State argues multiple victims justify multiple offenses	Five counts cannot stand; only one offense permitted for a single incident
Sufficiency of the evidence for brandishing	Evidence insufficient to prove brandishing beyond reasonable doubt	State presented credible testimony supporting brandishing	Evidence sufficient to sustain a single brandishing conviction beyond a reasonable doubt

State v. Gill, 187 W.Va. 136, 416 S.E.2d 253 (1992) (establishes the triple protection of double jeopardy under US Constitution)
Conner v. Griffith, 160 W.Va. 680, 238 S.E.2d 529 (1977) (West Virginia DD analysis includes multiple punishments for same offense)
State v. Green, 207 W.Va. 530, 534 S.E.2d 395 (2000) (unit of prosecution focused on gravamen: breach of the peace)
State v. Kendall, 219 W.Va. 686, 639 S.E.2d 778 (2006) (single act of brandishing; multiple offenses only if separate acts evidenced)
State v. McGilton, 229 W.Va. 554, 729 S.E.2d 876 (2012) (discusses multiple offenses under same statute when separate and distinct violations occur)
State v. Stone, 229 W.Va. 271, 728 S.E.2d 155 (2012) (statutory duty to render aid may permit single violation despite multiple victims)